Awards for Debuts in Acting, Directing, Performances
Individuals who won Academy Awards for their debut acting performances:
Best Actor
None
Best Actress
Shirley Booth (Come Back, Little Sheba, 1952)
Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins, 1964)
Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl, 1968)
Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God, 1986)
Best Supporting Actor
Harold Russell (The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946)
Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People, 1980)
Haing S. Ngor (The Killing Fields, 1984)
Best Supporting Actress
Gale Sondergaard (Anthony Adverse, 1936)
Katina Paxinou (For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1943)
Mercedes McCambridge (All the King’s Men, 1949)
Eva Marie Saint (On the Waterfront, 1954)
Jo Van Fleet (East of Eden, 1955)
Tatum O’Neal (Paper Moon, 1973)
Anna Paquin (The Piano, 1993)
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls, 2006)
Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave, 2013)
Honorary Award
Harold Russell (The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946)
Juvenile Award
Claude Jarman Jr. (The Yearling, 1946)
Vincent Winter (The Little Kidnappers, 1954)
Individuals who won Oscars for debut direction:
Best Director
Delbert Mann (Marty, 1955)
Jerome Robbins (West Side Story, 1961)
Robert Redford (Ordinary People, 1980)
James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, 1983)
Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves, 1990)
Sam Mendes (American Beauty, 1999)
